Psychophony (from the Greek psyke, soul and phone, sound, voice) is the name given by Spiritism and some other spiritualist traditions to the phenomenon where, according to them, a spirit talks using the voice of a medium.
Spiritist Doctrine as codified by Allan Kardec identifies two main classes of psychophony, to say, the "conscious" one and the "unconscious" one. The first one, as its name says, happens when the medium assures that he has mentally perceived or physically heard something that a spirit said, having only used his voice to reproduce it. The second one occurs when the medium assures that he ignores what was said, suggesting that a spirit used his phonetic organs while he was unconscious. As happens with all sorts of classification, this one is useful only for didactic purposes. Most psychophony occurrences are neither 100% conscious nor 100% unconscious laying somewhere between the two classes.
Allan Kardec is the nom de plume of the French educator, translator, and author Hippolyte Léon Denizard Rivail. He is the author of the five books known as the Spiritist Codification, and the founder of Spiritism.
Spiritism, a branch of Spiritualism, is a religious and philosophical doctrine established in France in the 1850s by the French teacher, educational writer and translator Hippolyte Léon Denizard Rivail, who, under the pen name Allan Kardec, wrote books on "the nature, origin, and destiny of spirits, and their relation with the corporeal world".
Spiritualism is a new religious movement based on the belief that the spirits of the dead exist and have the ability and the necessary means to communicate with the living. The afterlife, or the "spirit world", is seen by spiritualists, not as a static place, but as one in which spirits continue to evolve. These two beliefs—that contact with spirits is possible, and that spirits are more advanced than humans—lead spiritualists to a third belief: that spirits are capable of providing useful knowledge about moral and ethical issues, as well as about the nature of God. Some spiritualists will speak of a concept which they refer to as "spirit guides"—specific spirits, often contacted, who are relied upon for spiritual guidance. Emanuel Swedenborg has some claim to be the father of Spiritualism. Spiritism, a branch of spiritualism developed by Allan Kardec and today practiced mostly in Continental Europe and Latin America, especially in Brazil, emphasizes reincarnation.
Automatic writing, also called psychography, is a claimed psychic ability allowing a person to produce written words without consciously writing. Scientists and skeptics consider automatic writing to be the result of the ideomotor effect and even proponents of automatic writing admit it has been the source of innumerable cases of self-delusion. Automatic writing is not the same thing as free writing.
A séance or seance is an attempt to communicate with spirits. The word séance comes from the French word for "session", from the Old French seoir, "to sit". In French, the word's meaning is quite general: one may, for example, speak of "une séance de cinéma". In English, however, the word came to be used specifically for a meeting of people who are gathered to receive messages from ghosts or to listen to a spirit medium discourse with or relay messages from spirits. In modern English usage, participants need not be seated while engaged in a séance.
Within ghost hunting and parapsychology, electronic voice phenomena (EVP) are sounds found on electronic recordings that are interpreted as spirit voices. Parapsychologist Konstantīns Raudive, who popularized the idea in the 1970s, described EVP as typically brief, usually the length of a word or short phrase.
Chico Xavier or Francisco Cândido Xavier, born Francisco de Paula Cândido, was a popular Brazilian philanthropist and spiritist medium. During a period of 60 years he wrote over 490 books and several thousand letters claiming to use a process known as "psychography". Books based on old letters and manuscripts were published posthumously, bringing the total number of books to 496.
In psychology, the subconscious is the part of the mind that is not currently of focal awareness.
Enantiodromia is a principle introduced in the West by psychiatrist Carl Jung. In Psychological Types, Jung defines enantiodromia as "the emergence of the unconscious opposite in the course of time." It is similar to the principle of equilibrium in the natural world, in that any extreme is opposed by the system in order to restore balance. When things get to their extreme, they turn into their opposite. Jung adds that "this characteristic phenomenon practically always occurs when an extreme, one-sided tendency dominates conscious life; in time an equally powerful counterposition is built up which first inhibits the conscious performance and subsequently breaks through the conscious control."
The Gospel According to Spiritism, by Allan Kardec, is a book published in 1864 that relates the teachings of Jesus to Kardecist Spiritism, the moral and religious philosophy that Kardec had been publishing. It is intended to demonstrate that Spiritism clarifies and extends the most important teachings of Jesus. It is one of the five fundamental works of Kardecist Spiritism.
Table-turning is a type of séance in which participants sit around a table, place their hands on it, and wait for rotations. The table was purportedly made to serve as a means of communicating with the spirits; the alphabet would be slowly spoken aloud and the table would tilt at the appropriate letter, thus spelling out words and sentences. The process is similar to that of a Ouija board. Scientists and skeptics consider table-turning to be the result of the ideomotor effect, or conscious trickery.
The Spirits' Book is part of the Spiritist Codification, and is regarded as one of the five fundamental works on Spiritism. It was published by the French educator Hippolyte Léon Denizard Rivail, under the pen name of Allan Kardec on April 18, 1857. It was the first and remains the most important spiritist book, because it addresses in first hand all questions developed subsequently by Allan Kardec.
The Book on Mediums or Mediums and Evokers' Handbook, is a book by Allan Kardec published in 1861, second of the five Fundamental Works of Spiritism — the philosophy Kardec had been publishing — being the tome in which the experimental and investigative features of the doctrine were presented, explained and taught.
The Genesis, Miracles and Premonition According to Spiritism was the last book published (1868) by Allan Kardec, just before his death. It tries to reconcile science and religion and develops a series of important scientific and philosophical topics, relating them to Spiritism.
In Spiritism, perispirit is the subtle body that is used by the spirit to connect with the perceptions created by the brain. The term is found among the extensive terminology originally devised by Allan Kardec in his books about Spiritism. Its first use was in a commentary to the answer given by the spirits to the 93rd question of The Spirits Book:
Obsession, also known as spirit obsession, is a technical term within the Spiritist belief and practice defined by the author Allan Kardec as the interference of a subjugating spirit with a weaker spirit. Although the term most commonly refers to the negative influence of the spirit of an evil deceased person on the mind or spirit of a living person, obsession can occur in either direction.
Union Espiritista Cristiana de Filipinas, Incorporada is a religious Association with more than a thousand affiliated local and foreign based centers (churches), and considered as the biggest Association of christian spiritists in the Philippines. Foreign based centers are located in California, Canada, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Singapore, Greece, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Hawaii, Germany, Italy, and Russia, where there are large Filipino communities. Union members are called "Christian Spiritists" and are affiliated with the International Spiritualist Federation.
Espiritismo is a term used in Latin America and the Caribbean to refer to the popular belief that good and evil spirits can affect health, luck and other aspects of human life.
François Marie Gabriel Delanne was a notable French spiritist, psychical researcher, writer, and electrical engineer. He is best known for his book, "Le Phénomène spirite".
Amélie Boudet was a French teacher and artist, and wife of Allan Kardec, the founder of Spiritism. After his death, she became the world's leading authority on Spiritism.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
Philosophyportal · 
Religionportal 
